The Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Cllr Howard Sykes, MBE, has given his support to the second National Voter Registration Day being held this Thursday 5th February 2015.
Cllr Sykes said: “The National Voter Registration Day is being organised by Bite the Ballot, an organisation established to encourage young people to register to vote and to exercise that vote.” “One of the biggest challenges facing all politicians is disengagement among Britain’s youth. In the 2010 general election, only 44% of voters under 25 actually voted, compared with 76% of over-65s.”
“For both local and general election results to have validity, we need to ensure that every section of the electorate exercises their ballot. Young people are our future – so it critical they have their say on how a future Britain looks”.
National Voter Registration Day is being held on 5th Feb 2015 and organisations or individuals wishing to promote registration are encouraged to run National Voter Registration rallies. Last year 50,000 young people were registered on the day; this year a target has been set of 250,000. Cllr Sykes added: “I am especially pleased that the efforts and aspirations of Bite the Ballot’s campaign have been recognised in an early day motion registered with Parliament by Liberal Democrat MP David Ward.”
“This initiative enjoys cross-party support and I can only wish it every success.”
“If any individual or local organisation, especially youth centres and community groups, wants to organise an event, there is information to be found and various supporting resources that can be downloaded from the website: http://bitetheballot.co.uk/”